1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process management apparatus for prepress process and a method for management of prepress process.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 illustrates a diagram of a process management apparatus which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,682,286. Respective apparatuses 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, and 32 are connected with a common bus 4 through respective terminal 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18. Also, shared memory 2 is connected with the common bus 4. Progress status data from the respective terminal 6 to 18 is stored in the shared memory 2 successively. In the respective terminal 6 to 18, the progress status data stored in the shared memory 2 is read out, then necessary progress status data is searched and classified in accordance with a desired purpose such as each job classification. As a result of this, it is possible to grasp the progress status according to the desired purpose (for example, by each job).
However, above described prior art has following problems to resolve. The progress status data is stored in the shared memory 2 successively. Therefore, when an operator tries to grasp the progress status according to the desired purposes, seeking and classification of the data is need to be carried out, so that speed of processing is not fast enough. Especially, when many of the apparatuses are connected to the process management apparatus, the speed of processing is more slow.